One Lonely Mistletoe
by FourTiredEyes
Summary: When your stuck in your school for the Christmas holidays, boredom tends to take over the mind, so headmaster Makorov decided to keep his students busy with a project. Although the outcome at the end nobody could predict, especially the two involved. R and R please. Written by Jake .


AN: This is an AU without magic

"_It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, folks! With only a few days before Santa's annual visit, Fiore has finally been hit with a few inches of snow! It's practically a winter wonderland out here! And to top it all off it looks likes good old Father Christmas will be spreading festive cheer with; you guessed it, more snow! That's right my friends, it will be a white Christmas this year…"_

The radio crackled slightly as the signal went, filling the small room with a distorted humming sound. Drake looked up from his psychology paper, distracted slightly by the irritating sound. Moving from the desk, he stood and took it down from the top bunk, which had been the only place in his room to get a clear signal.

"Typical" he muttered under his breath. The snow had stopped him from playing sports with his team, from being able to see the running track and now from being able to listen to the only radio station which was barely annoying.

Turning towards the window, radio still in hand, he proceeded to glare at the offending substance that covered the school grounds in a misleadingly pure white.

The intercom overheard sputtered a bit, bringing Drake out of his thoughts. "Attention brats. This is Headmaster Makarov. All of you are to gather at the assembly hall in five minutes so that I may inform you of upcoming events during this festive period. No dilly-dallying" The intercom sputtered again before turning silent.

Sighing in annoyance, he placed the radio on his desk and exited the room. Not many students had opted to spend Christmas at Magnolia Academy, so the hallways remained practically empty until he turned the corner to the assembly hall.

"It takes a MAN to have to go to meetings during the holidays!" yelled Elfman, whom he had followed through the doorway.

"You say that about everything Elfman" giggled Lizanna, who guided her brother over to where their sister was sitting.

The hall was not overly full, but as it had been set up to fit the exact number of students who were currently at the academy, it took him a while to find a spare seat. Drake eventually found a place next to a small girl in a tight fitting black jacket with a hood over her face, although he could just about see her hair which seemed to be a mix of blond and black.

After a moment of thought, he remembered her from his psychology class as Tobi, a girl who had never been one to socialise willingly apart from with Mirajane Strauss. Glancing at her from his seat, he noticed the familiar white lead that could only belong to a pair of headphones disappearing into the black folds of the hood.

'Heavy metal most likely,' he concluded, 'At least I can count on no conversation.'

A few minutes later, Makarov jumped onto the stage ahead of them to begin his announcement.

"Listen up brats!"

Tobi reached up and tugged one of the headphones out of her ears.

"It is the festive season and some of you tend to get a little… over excited this time of year, as I'm sure many of you will remember the incident in the left wing last year…"

A few students, including Drake, repressed a shudder at the memory of a demonic Erza Scarlett destroying everyone and everything in her path to get to the foolish first years who had sent her a fake love letter from a certain blue-haired Head Boy.

"Therefore, I have decided to set you all a little project to complete to keep you all busy"

A collective groan went up from the crowd.

"Quiet! Anyone who fails to hand in the project will be subjected to _that_…"

Everyone became immediately silent.

"Good. Now the project will be done in pairs of my own choosing, and you have to design an ancient community with everything from where they live to the most common form of employment. The pair who makes the best will be given a special reward…"

Drake stared at his new partner from across a table in a library. He assumed, if the hood had not covered her face, she would be staring back.

He awkwardly ran his hand through his short, dark brown hair before asking, "So….any ideas on how we cannot fail this project?"

The girl across from him tilted her head slightly, as though considering his question. "I'm not planning on winning," he continued, "I just want to do enough to ensure my own wellbeing next year"

"Agreed" a small voice from within the hood spoke, "This project is quite… inconvenient"

Silence came over them for a moment.

"You like books right?" Drake questioned suddenly.

"Yes…" agreed Tobi.

"Well, have you read any on ancient communities or civilisations? It might help us with giving us a template of what to include…"

"I have not read many on that topic, but I know where we can get some"

"Lead the way then," said Drake, resigning himself to a day of factual reading.

_A few hours later…_

Drake closed the book he had been looking at, and placed it on his 'read' pile. The book had been boring and the civilisation even more so. He turned to grab the next book on the 'unread' pile, in doing so glancing at Tobi. His jaw almost dropped to the ground when he saw how many books she had read.

"You….you…you've read all that?!"

"Yes" was the simple reply, "I've also made a list of all the things regularly described in them so that we can do so for our own project"

Silence. "Oh… good then," Drake said, as he looked at her list. There were things like common foods, activities, religions… There was silence for another moment. "Do you know what we could put under each of these headings?"

"Not a clue" Tobi answered, putting down yet another book she had been reading.

Drake nodded his head in thought.

"Shall we go spy on the other groups?"

"I thought you'd never ask"

After realising that every other group was in the same position as they were, Tobi realised she had just wasted an hour or so trying to spy on groups who were all trying to spy on each other. It was like when someone hires two people to stalk each other and find out information about each other. A bloody waste of time.

In the end they returned to the library defeated and exhausted. In a vain attempt to get at least something done today, she grabbed the nearest book on her desk, and opened it to a random page. Tobi raised her eyebrows at the content of the book. Surprised by how it was actually interesting.

"Hey Drake have a look at this" Tobi told Drake as she lightly chucked it at him, despite Drakes zombified state he was able to catch the book with ease.

"Hmm" Drake hummed as he flicked through a few pages "Wizard Guilds?"

"It seems interesting"

"I suppose we could do this"

Both smiled at the fact that something was accomplished today, they both agreed to look through the book tomorrow and call it a day.

Tobi had already left when Drake made the decision to leave, he looked over at the chair she was sitting at, "She seems like a decent partner, I'm sure this will go fine" Drake thought. As he was about to make himself scarce, he noticed something white and circular just able to be seen on the cushion of the chair.

Curious he went to pick it up, what he picked up was a heavily used music player. He concluded that it must be Tobi's as he remembered the white lead earlier that day. The screen flickered on, when he accidently touched a button. His faced turned to that of confusion when a classical song appeared. He took a quick peak at the playlist and found that every song was a classical piece.

"Never would've guessed" Drake thought with sudden interest. "I wonder what else is interesting about her". Snapping out of his daze he started to sprint after Tobi, hoping to catch her as to make himself seem innocent of searching through her belongings. "I must have looked like a stalker!" thought Drake in a panic.

Over the next few days, the project began to get along nicely and many of the pairs began to join them in the library due to its peaceful and calm atmosphere.

"SHUT UP GRAY! MY CILI..CIvi…civi"

"IT'S CIVILISATION YOU MORONIC FLAME-BRAIN! AND MINE AND JUVIA'S IS WELL COOLER THEN YOURS!"

"AS IF ICE PRINCESS! MINE AND LUCY'S LIVE IN A VOLCANO AND CAN BREATH FIRE! WHAT CAN YOURS DO? ASIDE FROM WALK AROUND NAKED!"

"THEY DON'T ALL STRIP YOU…"

The respective partners of the two males attempted to calm the two males, to no avail. Eventually it resulted in a spit ball contest from across both sides of the room that eventually included the other pairings in the area, leading to all-out war.

Drake gulped slightly at the demonic aura emanating from Tobi at that moment, who was surveying the chaos from their corner of the room. Her hood was down, so you could see her blue and red eyes glaring menacingly at those around them.

"This… is a library." She seethed, "It has… to be quiet. It has… to be calm. It has… to be without food!"

That last comment was more directed at a certain scarlet haired Head Girl who was contentedly ignoring those around her in favour of her strawberry cake.

"Err. Tobi?" Drake asked, trying not to poke the demon any further, "why don't we go somewhere else?"

She glanced at him suspiciously.

"Where?"

"My room" he said, off the top of his head, "My roommates gone home for the holidays so there won't be any of… that"

Drake gestured towards the rabble that was the student body, whom had now made mini forts out of the tables and chairs. After taking a small breath of frustration, Tobi nodded and marched towards the library exit; somehow managing to escape without being hit by one of the thousands of flying paper balls.

'Thank God' he thought, as he attempted to do the same, 'If she had been here when they run out of paper and start tearing pages out of books… we may have been in for a massacre!'

Drake narrowly avoided a collision with a tumbling Droy.

'Wait a minute… I've just invited a girl… to my room!'

Tobi stood in the doorway, watching the well-built male scamper around the small room like a puppy on ice skates.

'Well-built? Where did that come from?' she thought suddenly.

"I promise you that none of this mess his mine" he spoke hurriedly, kicking strange doll-like figurines under the bed, "I personally prefer a clean room, but my roommate…"

Tobi giggled a little, "its fine. You should have seen my brother's room…what?"

Drake had been staring at her strangely since she had started speaking, "It's nothing. I've just never heard you laugh before"

Her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. "It was hardly a laugh, more of a giggle"

"It was still beautiful"

She felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Drake seemed to have realised what he had just admitted and his face had started to go slightly red. A strange but not completely awkward silence hung for a moment.

Tobi averted her eyes to the wall, and tried to move the conversation on by asking, "What's all these?"

Drake followed her gaze and saw she was referring to the many, many diagrams and blueprints of various weapons he had drawn and stuck to the wall. "Did you draw all of this yourself?"

He gulped slightly. Not many people liked his little hobby. "Yeah. I've always had a thing with weapons, both old and new. Although, manly old. With a little magic sometimes but I know it's not real I just think that it's really cool or maybe…"

Drake stopped when he felt a finger on his lips and looked up. Tobi was examining one of his more recent designs on the wall, but it was definitely her finger preventing him from continuing. Heat once again rose to his cheeks.

"Stop rambling, you are a really good artist" she said sincerely but without looking at him, "and your designs are far cooler than any I've seen in published books", she finally looked him in the eye, and he realised she was blushing too, "and here I thought you were just a jock…"

That strange silence came again, remaining just a little longer then it had before.

"We should work some more on the project"

"Yeah"

It was the day before Christmas Eve and the current school population had begun to get increasingly excited as the annual Christmas party was coming up. Due to the small number of students, it was never anything grand. However, the general atmosphere and spirit created always made the night one to remember.

"I can't wait!" squealed Lizanna to a smiling Mira and a reading Tobi, "I can't believe I missed last years!"

"I was hardly going to let you go to the party with a fever, and besides, I knew Cana was spiking the punch" replied Mira, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, but it meant I missed Alzack and Bisca getting together. And don't try to deny it I know you were involved somehow Mirajane Strauss!"

The matchmaking she-devil grinned evilly, "I'll never tell"

A pouting Lizanna turned to Tobi, "do you know Tobi? Please…"

Tobi turned a page and replied, "Who do you think got Bisca drunk before setting her on Alzack?"

Both siblings hummed to themselves, one in barely concealed glee and the other in annoyance, before continuing their gossiping on the upcoming party. Tobi moved her book to the side slightly so that she could reach the cheese sandwich that was her lunch.

In doing so, she spotted Drake, who was sitting with his friends on the basketball team. Their project had been getting along well and only a few touches were needed before they could hand it in on Christmas morning, so that the winners could be announced during the party. She smiled to herself as she remembered that he was coming to her room tomorrow evening, due to his roommate making a rather impromptu appearance. Something about his 'babies' needing him.

'It was still beautiful'

She suddenly heard his words in her head and Tobi felt heat rise to her cheeks. No one had ever complemented anything about her before.

"So…" said Mira suddenly, bringing her out of her thoughts. She was smiling that slightly scary smile of hers that immediately had her on guard. "Someone seems to have gotten on extremely well with a certain weapons enthusiast recently"

"What are you going on about?" Tobi replied, keeping her voice even.

"Nice try Tobi," continued Lizanna, "We saw you peeking at Drake just now, and you never blush"

She looked at the Strauss pairing blankly, their intent stares causing her grip on her book to tighten considerably.

"I do not blush. It is just rather warm in here"

The stares continued unblinkingly.

Suddenly Mirajane sprung, snatching away Tobi's book and standing with it above her head. The small girl stood and glared up at her, 'I will not make a fool of myself. I will not make a fool of myself'. Unfortunately, that battle was quickly lost as she began to jump and reach for her book, to no avail.

"Mira…" she whined, her blue and red eyes pleading.

"Spill" was the merciless reply.

She sighed in defeat.

"He called my laugh beautiful" she mumbled quietly.

"He said what!" squealed Lizanna, her eyes shining.

"Is everything ok, Tobi?" asked a male voice from her right interrupting the hostage situation.

"Oh look who it is," Mirajane grinned gleefully, "Drake Magnus"

Using the distraction to her advantage, Tobi gave a swift kick to the demon woman's leg, causing her to drop the precious book. After successfully grabbing it, she fled the dining room so that she could attempt to return her very red face back to its normal colouring.

Drake blinked twice, his project partner having moved so fast he couldn't even remember her leaving.

The brown haired male moved through the girl's dormitory carefully as he tried to find Tobi's room. While students were allowed in each other's rooms until eleven, he would rather not run into Erza Scarlet, who would no doubt accuse him of attempting to besmirch Tobi's virtue.

Thankfully, he made it number 407 without incident and knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal Tobi, dressed in her usual black jeans and jacket. "Hey" he said lamely. She smiled slightly and moved to let him in.

Her room was a bit larger than his, with shelves along the walls and a double bed in the centre. A single desk was to the right of the bed and a comfortable looking armchair sat snugly in the corner closest to the door.

"You have your own room?" Drake asked in astonishment.

"I used to share it," she replied, "but I've had it to myself for a while now. Eventually I worked it out with Makarov to have it to myself, which just made things easier when you consider I live here"

"You live in the school?"

She nodded, "it's part of my scholarship programme. It also stops my old place from having to hold the room for me during the holidays, especially now my brother doesn't live there anymore"

"Where did you used to live?"

"Raven Claw Orphanage" she wasn't looking at him, her gaze was focused steadily on her desk.

"Sorry"

"It's fine. I don't remember my parents anyway, and my brother…is complicated"

Drake put the project they were working on at the foot of her bed, "I don't really know my parents either" He flicked through the paper work to get it in the right order, "They are both in the military, and so are always of fighting in some war or saving some town or whatever. The only reason I am here instead of some strict military school is because I forced them too"

He sat on the bed and looked around. Everything about the room was very ordered, he didn't even have to look at the bookshelf to know it was in alphabetical order. Something though that had caught his eye was the shelves filled with folders that seemed to have different people's names on it.

"What are those?"

Tobi looked up at him and followed his pointed finger. She turned slightly pink.

"I keep records" she replied, a little stiffly.

"Of what?"

"Everything"

His eyebrows narrowed in confusion, "May I?"

She nodded. Drake moved over to one of the shelves, and picked out a folder marked as 'The Strauss Family'. Carefully flicking through the pages, he found copies of certificates, photos, even a family tree! Placing it back, he looked over at the other names, 'The Dreyar family', 'Levi McGarden', 'Drake Magnus'. He paused at his name.

"You have one on everyone?" he questioned quietly.

The small girl was silent. "Tobi?"

"Yes," she breathed.

Drake turned to face her as she continued, her voice becoming louder as she went on, "but you don't understand, I have to make sure! I have to know everything or else I might not… I need to know…"

He hugged her and she froze, tears threatening to spill. "Relax," he whispered into her ear, "I understand" He might not know what happened to her to cause her to need this, maybe he never will. But if doing this made her feel safe, than who was he to argue. "And besides, it's kind of cool to know someone who knows everything about everyone"

She blinked a few times to get rid of the tear drops, and slowly hugged him back. "It's not too weird?"

"Have you seen the people we hang out with? Nothing is too weird for me"

Tobi smiled against his shoulder.

"So, shall we finish this project before Master Makarov decides to put us through hell until the end of the year?"

"We'd better. I don't plan on doing much outside of reading until school begins in January."

The two worked together for a few hours to finish the project, carefully placing it on her desk. Glancing at the clock, Tobi said, "You know it's only 9 o clock, do you want to watch a movie Mira rented for me?"

"Sure, but where would we watch it?"

"I have a TV under my bed; it doesn't take long to set up"

After they had set up the film and settled down, Tobi on the bed and Drake in the armchair, time flew by. Tobi would tell him about some of the stranger things she had discovered about their peers during the duller parts of the film, or Drake would loudly criticise the script or action sequences until they were both in a fit of giggles.

The film had ended with the two main characters getting together at the end, it was a sappy ending really, but it wasn't so bad to stomach. Her eyes were on the verge of shutting down, so she glanced at her clock. "Is it really that late" she muttered as the clock proudly showed 11 o clock.

"Drake it's getting late you should probably go". No response came from the green eyed male. Curious Tobi forced herself from the comfort of her own bed and went to check on him.

She was surprised to find him completely asleep on the armchair, his chest rising and falling in conjunction with his soft, steady breathing. Tobi couldn't help but smile at the scene displayed in front of her, "He's kind of cute when he's sleeping" She thought as she stared at his face. Although she quickly realised that what she was doing was way beyond the borderline of creepy, she looked away sharply with a large blush on her face.

"There's no way I can carry him" Tobi muttered "so he will have to sleep here" The blush deepened at the thought. She quickly grabbed a pillow and a spare duvet and positioned it so Drake would be somewhat comfortable. She chuckled as he fidgeted in his sleep. She clambered into her own bed (fully clothed) and tried to force herself into slumber.

The morning was… interesting to say the least, Drake woke up a few minutes after Tobi, he started to apologise profusely; with an ever spreading blush growing. It didn't take him long to bolt out the door, probably out of fear of this being spread around the school within five seconds. After all Mira's room was right next to Tobi's which was never a good thing.

But soon evening came on Christmas day. The day always seems to go quickly, but nevertheless the festivities were quickly underway. Decorations piled the place to the point where it was almost a fire hazard, and the punch was only slightly spiked this year, which was both a relief and a disappointment; as no one was going to drunkenly hit on anyone this year.

Unfortunately, the rules of the event (aka Ezra's will) dictate that everyone must wear formal wear or suffer _that…_ Of course this means tuxes for the guys and dresses for the women, much to the despair of Tobi who absolutely hated the idea of dresses.

But here she was clad in a formal black gown, (With a shirt underneath she wasn't taking any chances), although high heels were out of the question. She wanted to be able to walk tonight.

She stayed at the side-lines like every year, before Mira would drag her away to "meet" someone as she liked to put it.

That is until she saw Drake standing surprisingly alone with a drink in one hand. Without thinking she began to walk up to him, she was unable to get certain thoughts out of her mind, like how the tux he was wearing brought out his eyes. "Shut up brain" Tobi thought in a vain attempt to control herself.

Drake was bored to say the least; most of his friends were off with their dates or crying about not having one on one of the benches. But even he admitted he was moping about it, so he wasn't any better.

He looked over to his right and saw Tobi walking towards him, with a troubled look on her face, although his attention was more or less drawn to what she was wearing. He probably looked like a creeper, but he was well past the realm of caring. "It really brings out the blond in her hair" He thought in a daze.

She paused a few steps from him, as if slightly unsure of herself. Drake reached behind him to place his now empty glass on the table, and replaced it with a small box-shaped package wrapped in tissue paper. Closing the gap between them, he handed her the small gift. "I'm sorry it's not a lot, but the snow didn't let me out much"

Her mouth turned upwards in a small smile but her eyes are what really told him how much it meant to her, they were lit up like tiny blue and red Christmas trees. "Thank you" she smiled gratefully.

She reached into her matching handbag (curtesy of Mira) and pulled out a similarly wrapped package. "I know what you mean though; it is difficult to find appropriate gifts when your only resource is the school"

"Thank you" nodded Drake, taking the gift from Tobi.

They both looked down at their respective parcels.

"May I?" they both asked, before chuckling at themselves.

Drake carefully unveiled his own gift, to reveal a small, hand-whittled hunting knife. "How...?"

"I know someone"

He smiled, "Of course you do"

Tobi finally managed to un-wrap the many layers that made up her own Christmas gift, to find a well-worn book entitled 'The boys book of weapons and war'.

"It was one of my favourites as a child" he explained, and if anything her smile on grew bigger.

"Attention Brats!" yelled Master Makarov from the stage, "I will be announcing the winner of the design project competition in 2 hours. So until then, eat, drink and dance your way through this festive season!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd of students, who immediately began to bop up and down to some upbeat Christmas song. As neither Drake nor Tobi were avid dancers, they both opted to sit out of this strange manner of 'expressing emotion' in favour of chatting the evening away, about pretty much anything.

"I'm going to get another drink would you like one?" asked Tobi suddenly, standing up.

"Isn't it supposed to be the male who does those kinds of things?" Drake questioned.

"Generally but you got the last few rounds, and it wouldn't feel right if I made you get all of them"

He sighed, "Fine, but I'm getting the next three"

Tobi just smiled at him as she walked away. She moved to buffet bar and proceeded to pour both her and Drake a lemonade, as he didn't like coke and she'd rather not risk the punch.

As she was about to move away, her eyes spotted Mirajane and Lissana who were in deep (or as deep as you could get when the other person was intoxicated) conversation with Bixlow.

"I promise you - hic! – Mira, Drake must have a – hic! – girlfriend, he didn't come back to - hic! - our room until this morning – hic!"

"I see" replied Mira, handing the swaying man another drink. "and where do you think he was heading?"

" - hic! – How am I supposed to know? – hic! – but he don't hang out with any girls – hic! -, except from that short – hic! – assed blonde Goth chick"

"Thank you, Bixlow," smiled Lizanna sweetly, "You've told us everything we wanted to know"

The inebriated man, sensing his interrogation was over, moved away from the sisters, although he kept glancing towards the youngest one as he did so.

"I told you Mira… those two are so couple material!"

"Yes," replied Mirajane, scarily, "and I already have a plan to put into place…"

Tobi, not needing to hear anymore, abandoned the drinks at the buffet table and forced her way through the crowd towards Drake. She had seen the results of some of Mira's less successful 'missions' and really didn't fancy a similar disaster to occur tonight.

"Hey Tobi what's …" Drake was cut off by the small woman suddenly grabbing him by the hand, pulling him out of his seat and dragging him through the crowd. She didn't stop to answer his questions until she had forced him through the first door she could see, which just so happened to lead to a small balcony overlooking the snow covered tennis courts.

"Sorry…" she breathed, after kicking the door closed, "I overheard Mirajane plotting to set us both up so I figured it was best to hide for a bit"

Drake felt a shiver go down his spine as he nodded in agreement at Tobi's quick thinking; a Mira in matchmaking mode could only lead to an Armageddon-like situation for those in her sights. That was he noticed that she hadn't let go of his hand yet. She seemed to notice too as she immediately let go with a small blush, but he found himself missing the warmth of her hand.

Tobi, trying to look anywhere but Drake, gazed over the balcony to the large town in the distance that was brightly lit up by hundreds of Christmas lights. "Beautiful…" she murmured.

"Completely" agreed Drake without looking, he was too busy taking this rare opportunity to observe his strange yet intriguing companion. His eyes trailed over her small yet smooth face and mismatched eyes, although he could only see the red one at this angle. Her blonde hair lined with black streaks trailed over her black dress, and he noticed that white glitter had been placed in it…

'Wait…' he thought, before reaching out to touch it.

Tobi jolted slightly when she felt Drakes fingers in her hair and looked at him questioningly, but he was too busy staring at the now melted substance on his fingers. He looked up, and Tobi copied his movements, to see thousands of tiny snowflakes swirling gently through the night air.

"Guess Santa really did bring us some more snow…" he murmured, before he noticed it. A carefully hung piece of mistletoe that was barely visible in the glow coming from the windows. Bringing his head down to face Tobi, he realised she had noticed it too.

Green eyes gazed into blue and red ones. Her mouth opened, as if to say something in jest or even to protest, but it closed again after a moment. Drake knew that in a second the moment would be over, Tobi would gather her bearings and change the topic like she usually did when it came to these strange, entirely un-awkward instants they shared.

Without thinking too much, if he did he would lose his nerve; he leaned down until his face was only a few centimetres from Tobi's. His eyes never left hers, although he vaguely noticed the growing red tint around her cheeks and Drake could feel her soft breaths brushing over his nose.

"Merry Christmas Tobi"

He pressed his lips to hers.


End file.
